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2CORINTHIANS 13
Lesson #36
LIVING THROUGH WEAKNESS BY THE POWER OF GOD
- Memory Verse: 2Cor 13:5
- He was chosen by Jesus Christ.
- Miracles through his ministry were verified by God.
- His ministry produced fruit in the changed lives of those he won to Christ.
- He preached the same gospel as the other apostles.
- Paul promises to make a third visit to Corinth. He will come as a true apostle.
- In this third visit to Corinth, he would settle this issue of his authority.
- “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
- Paul gives them the Jewish legal principle that goes through the entire Bible. (Deu 17:6 Deu 19:15 Mat 18:16 1Tim 5:19 Heb 10:28)
- In a court of law, punishment for a crime required the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- This was the requirement to establish truth.
- Paul indicated that he would bring witnesses to verify his position of authority as an apostle. He does not tell us who those witnesses would be, but there were many men that travelled with Paul and ministered with him that could give a testimony.
- “ if I come again, I will not spare.”
- What warning does Paul give to the church in Corinth? (2)
- Paul promises that he will come with firm power to correct the sins that still exist in the church. He recognized that in his love for them, he had been too soft when he was in their presence.
- This time he would carry the firm attitude that they recognized in 1Corinthians.
- Read Eph 3:7
- Proof that Christ speaks through Paul
- The Judaizers wanted proof that his preaching came from God.
- Paul would give them proof through the power of God. (3)
- The power of God lived inside the believers in Corinth in a mighty way.
- The Holy Spirit was changing their hearts, their attitudes, and their lives starting on the inside and working those changes in an outward manner.
- Read 1The 1:5
- The power of a changed life.
- Read 2Pet 1:3-4
- Living by the power of God (4)
- Paul was not the only person with the power of God in his life.
- Jesus Christ ministered in power. (Act 10:38)
- Jesus submitted himself to weakness as a human on the cross so as to be raised in power. (4) (Phi 2:6-8)
- Through Jesus submission to weakness, He demonstrated the strength of Gods power for us.
- All believers have within them the resident power of God.
- Read Eph 1:19-20
- The power of God is magnified by the weakness of man.
- Paul gave us a long list of his weaknesses and sufferings. He showed us how God gave him the strength through all of it.
- God gave Paul the power of God to minister in spite of all his weaknesses and sufferings.
- Pauls challenge: (5-6)
- What challenge does Paul make for them? (5)
- Paul tells them to examine themselves. In what aspect must they do this?
- They are to determine whether they are true Christians or not. (“whether ye be in the faith”)
- Everyone should ask himself if has ever made a decision for Jesus Christ.
- Did you at one point in time give your life to Jesus Christ?
- Did you invite Jesus Christ to come into your heart and life?
- Did you ask God to forgive you of your sins through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?
- Did you identify yourself with the crucified Christ, buried and raised to new life?
- Does the Holy Spirit live inside of you changing your attitude, your priorities, your character, and your life?
- Make sure you are not a reprobate. (6)
- What is a reprobate?
- Websters 1828 Dictionary says that a reprobate is:
- someone who does not endure a proof or trial of purity and for that reason is rejected, disapproved, or disallowed.
- abandoned to sin and lost to virtue or grace.
- abandoned to error or apostasy. (2Tim 3)
- abandoned to eternal destruction.
- without hope of pardon.
- Paul examined himself and said that he and those in the ministry with him were not reprobates.(6)
(1)
(2)
- What prayer does Paul express for them? (7)
- Paul is their spiritual father. In that role, he has challenged them to self-examination. In the self-examination of their spiritual life, they should be sure that they are not simply putting on a false appearance of being a Christian. He prays they will be honest with themselves, even if some of them may be unbelievers.
- It is so easy to play the religious game and some people play it very well. Here is the primary rule for the game of religion:
- “I am not as bad as a lot of people I know.”
- When you play this game, your pride keeps you from seeing yourself from Gods perspective.
- From Gods perspective, we are all sinners in need of salvation by means of the perfect Savior sent by God. That Perfect Savior is Jesus Christ.
- If they want to know if Paul truly speaks for God, they should examine themselves to see if the gospel he preached resulted in their salvation. Did the power of Christ truly come to live in them by means of the Holy Spirit?
- The power and validity of the truth:
- No matter how much people argue against God and Christ and their need for forgiveness, one spiritual truth remains:
- An Important Spiritual Truth:
- Gods Truth of the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ will remain true even if the great majority of people deny it, ignore it, turn their back on it, try to stamp it out, or persecute and kill those who accept it.
- Read Isa 55:11-13
- Therefore, we are not called to defend Gods Word, we are called to declare it so others can be saved.
- There is only one truth and not many truths as people believe today. That truth is Jesus Christ. (Joh 14:6)
- “ we wish, even your perfection.”
- Paul would be very happy if the Christians in Corinth became spiritually stronger than he. He desired their “perfection”. (9)
- The word, “perfection” does not mean without defect as we usually use it.
- The Biblical word “perfection” means = to be finished or completed with nothing left to do.
- In the Bible this word is used to portray Christian maturity.
- Remember this was a church filled with carnal babies in Christ. His whole purpose for the two books of 1 and 2 Corinthians was to get them to mature. This is his reason for ending this book with this underlying desire that prompted him to write to them.
- Paul returns to the warning to come to them with stern rebuke in the power of God. (10)
- Sometimes Christians use stern rebuke with brothers and sisters in Christ when they judge others and find they are not living the way some think they should live.
- There is a place in the body of Christ for stern rebuke:
- It should always be done without judging others.
- Remember Paul told them not to judge their brothers and sisters in Christ. (1Cor 4:5 Rom 14:13)
- Stern rebuke of a brother or sister in Christ should be done by the Pastor and elders of the church. (1Cor 5:4-5)
- It should always be done with the motive of forgiveness, restoration, and edification. (10)
- It should never be done with the motive of destruction or condemnation. (10)
You can do nothing against the Truth only for the truth! (8)
(9)
- Read 2Cor 13:11-14 Closing and Benediction
- Paul ends the book by calling those believers, “brethren”. He had faith that they were true believers and that they would mature in the faith.
- Paul closes this book with the following encouragements that cover everything he had written to them in 1 and 2 Corinthians:
- Be perfect = They should grow up and be mature believers.
- Of good comfort = The comfort of the Holy Spirit that lives in each believer will walk with the believer through endless trials and tribulations, persecutions, and even death.
- Be of one mind = Another plea for unity in the church by having the mind of Christ. (1Cor 1:10 1Cor 2:16)
- Live in peace = Stop being the enemy of your brother and sister in Christ:
- in the church through gossip and backbiting.
- outside the church through law suits.
- The God of love be with you:
- Have the agape kind of love Paul talked about in 1Cor 13.
- Paul closes with a benediction of grace, love, and communion or fellowship based on the character of the Holy Trinity. This is one of the few scriptures that give us the fullness of the Holy Trinity in one place.
- Grace of Jesus Christ
- The believer is saved by grace through the blood of Christ.
- Love of God, the Father
- Because we have forgiveness through the blood of Christ, we have peace with God, the Father, and can live in the love He pours out on our lives.
- Communion of the Holy Spirit
- Because the believer has invited Christ into his heart, he has fellowship with God through the internal presence of the Holy Spirit.
- Because all believers have this same fellowship with God, they have fellowship with one another in the body of Christ.
- Summary:
- Pauls desire was for a mature church in Corinth.
- What principles of weakness and strength do we find in this chapter?
| Weaknesses | Strengths |
| Jesus Christ was crucified in weakness to demonstrate his power. (4) | Christ speaking through a committed believer is powerful in changing lives with the truth. (3) |
| The believer is weak in the flesh. (4) | The believer lives by the power of God in strength. (4) |
| The believers weaknesses are made perfect (mature) in Christ. (9) | Maturity is letting Christs strength make you what you could not be without Him. (9) |
- The believer has the power of God working in him to bring him to maturity.
- Gods plan for the believer in the universal church, the body of Christ, is to make believers mature and the church pure without blemish.
The End
May God bless you abundantly as you mature in Jesus Christ!
